About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Friday, July 16, 2010

Lebanon's parliament on Thursday postponed to 17 August talks on the controversial issue of granting the Palestinian refugees in the country the right employment, social security, medical care, andownership of property.
A deep divide over the motion has emerged between Christians and Muslims in the 128-strong parliament, which is equally split between the two confessions. Christian parliamentarians -although on other issues often deepjy divided - are unanimous in their refusal to grant Palestinians property rights, fearing the move would lead to permanent settlement and giving the mainly Sunni Muslim refugees full-fledged citizenship. Palestinians have consistently said they refuse Lebanese citizenship. Members of Sunni Prime Minister Saad Hariri's ruling bloc have stepped up talks with their Christian Maronite allies on an alternate proposal, which will likely not include a clause on property, in a bid to come to an agreement.
Christian MPs have also lashed out at the cash-strapped UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), accusing it of trying to shift its responsibilities to the shoulders of the Lebanese state. "UNRWA's budget is shrinking and it is failing to meet its responsibilities and placing them on Lebanon," MP Sami Gemayel of the Maronite Kataeb (Phalange) party said before going into the meeting. "That is dangerous because if the international community is no longer responsible for this matter and is trying to throw all responsibility on Lebanon, we have begun to move step by step towards naturalisation."
Lebanon houses close to half a million Palestinian refugees, according to UNRWA, who live in a dozen impoverished camps across the country. Lebanese officials have said no more than 300,000 refugees actually reside in Lebanon.